A major export is military aircraft designs. China bought the services of Antonov State to help build the Y-20 transport aircraft. The Antonov State Company, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company based in Kyiv. Antonov's particular expertise is in the fields of very large airplanes and airplanes insensitive to runway quality. Antonov is the most common airplane brand on the planet, with total of 22,000 aircraft built and thousands of planes currently operating in the former Soviet Union and the developing countries.

China’s domestically-produced Y-20 transport aircraft successfully completed its maiden flight on Jan. 26, 2013 The Y-20’s first flight suggests that China is on the way to joining the U.S., Russia and Ukraine as the fourth nation to independently develop and fly a heavy military transport aircraft. Its development represents a meaningful step toward China being able to develop a more robust ability to project aerial power, both in the form of air transport and aerial refueling. It also offers a large airframe that could eventually provide a foundation for building airborne early warning aircraft and large air tankers capable of supporting long-range strike fighters. Finally, the Y-20 transport could eventually be exported to friendly nations, and perhaps beyond if AVIC can build and sell it for less than the cost of competitors such as the Russian IL-76. The PLAAF currently operates 20 IL-76s, and has reportedly ordered 30 more.

The Y-20 has three aircrew, a 15-meter height and 47-meter fuselage length, a 66-ton maximum load capacity and a maximum takeoff weight of just over 200 tons. Its capacious cargo hold can “carry the vast majority of combat and support vehicles of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including the PLA’s heaviest tank, the 58-ton Type-99A2.

China's high performance engine gap

China is developing a high-thrust turbofan called the WS-20 to fill this role as part of a major aeroengine resource and technology push. While progress will likely take time, reports suggest China could invest up to 300 billion yuan ($49 billion) in jet engine development by 2035. Acquisition of foreign technology and breakthroughs in recruiting foreign experts could help accelerate China’s jet engine development.

Financial considerations and a belief that Chinese jet engine makers are behind the Russian technical curve will likely motivate Russia to permit transfers of additional jet engines over the next 2-3 years despite the significant risk AVIC will reverse engineer key portions, if not the entire powerplant. Meanwhile, Ukrainian engineers are already readily available, and their Russian engineering counterparts are also becoming available.

Trying to catch up to Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed and Other established Aircraft players

To develop and build the ARJ-21 and C919, China cobbled together several competing aircraft manufacturing groups into a single consortium, known initially as the AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company (ACAC). Members of ACAC included the Shanghai Aircraft Research Institute, the Xi’an Aircraft Design and Research Institute, the Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group (CAIG), the Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group (XAIG), the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), and the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory (SAMF). The Shanghai and Xi’an research institutes were responsible for designing the aircraft, while workshares were distributed among the four manufacturing companies accordingly:

The China North Industries Group on its website, a company within the group, the Inner Mongolia North Heavy Industries Group, has successfully put its 36,000 metric ton (tonne) ferrous metal vertical extruder into operation to fill the gap for large-tonnage machines in handling the extrusion of powder metallurgy (P/M) alloy materials in China.

The turbine disk constitutes one of the most crucial parts of an aircraft engine, while high-temperature P/M alloy materials are key to producing high performance, high durability, and reliable turbine disks. The smooth operation of the 36,000 tonne extruder is believed to have served as a valuable stepping-stone for the industry to sharpen its manufacturing techniques. The machine also makes it possible to produce such key engine parts in vastly greater numbers, which should significantly improve the country's self-sufficiency in such parts.